Chapter 51

Chapter 51

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Wang Jisha, who was fleeing, once again felt the chill he had experienced on the inn’s roof. Without a second thought, he quickly turned his body and threw the broken saber. Even in his haste, the throw was forceful and threatening. Of course, Zhang Jian easily deflected it.

Turning to a stop, he glared at Zhang Jian with a distorted face. His eyes were filled with murderous intent. Zhang Jian met his gaze and flicked his sword.

“Abandoning your subordinates to run away?”

“...It’s a strategic retreat. If I’m trapped, I need to stay alive to pass on the information, don’t I?”

“Trapped?”

Wang Jisha took a few steps back while speaking.

“Is that so? Do you mean to say it’s not a trap? That this fight is just a coincidence?”

“What trap? You just dug your own grave.”

Zhang Jian chuckled and approached Wang Jisha step by step.

“Alright, spill everything you know. What’s the purpose of that palace, what’s the grand plan, and what did you intend to do with that kid?”

Wang Jisha retreated as Zhang Jian approached.

“Huh. You said you weren’t curious just a moment ago... You really intend to interrogate me. Do you think that’s possible? Even if you torture me, I won’t betray the palace. And...”

Suddenly, he stopped.

“...I won’t be caught so easily.”

The murderous intent in his eyes exploded, and the veins on his upper body bulged, emitting a reddish aura. He growled.

“Was it you who killed Xue Weiliang? He was just learning a new skill. I’m different from him.”

With his confident words, dark red flames began to rise from his hands. He ignited the flames in both hands and stood with his arms outstretched, emitting a strong heat that even reached Zhang Jian, who was still some distance away. It was indeed a more intense display than Xue Weiliang’s.

However, Zhang Jian didn’t seem particularly tense.

“It’s warm.”

Muttering this, he suddenly sheathed his sword. Wang Jisha’s eyebrows twitched at the sight.

“What is it?”

“To talk, you need to be alive. One wrong move with a sword, and you’re dead.”

It was as if he was offering to fight bare-handed. Wang Jisha’s eyes widened, and his face turned bright red. The bulging veins and the redness made him look like a ferocious beast.

“You scoundrel! Are you mocking me?!”

Zhang Jian didn’t respond to his shout. He just continued to approach him.

Wang Jisha, angered by his indifference, charged forward with a roar. His hands, engulfed in dark red flames, aimed for Zhang Jian’s face.

Zhang Jian dodged to the right and thrust his index and middle fingers into Wang Jisha’s side. Wang Jisha, startled by the sting, swung his hands at Zhang Jian, who was now close.

In the darkness, Wang Jisha’s burning hands looked like torches or flaming balls being swung around. The chaotic flames of the martial technique, neither bright nor steady, flickered, creating and erasing countless shadows of Zhang Jian and Wang Jisha.

Wang Jisha was indeed fast and strong. His hands sliced through the air, and the burning flames scorched the air behind them, emitting intense heat. To Zhen Xia and the others watching from a distance, it looked like two burning snakes were chasing Zhang Jian frantically.

However, the snakes never touched Zhang Jian. He moved back naturally as the flames pushed away the shadows, approached when the flames subsided, and dispersed like a mirage when the light approached.

“What... is this...”

Wang Jisha, swinging his palm techniques frantically, was confused. He couldn’t follow Zhang Jian’s movements, which seemed to blend with the shadows or be the shadows themselves. What annoyed him more were the fingers that poked various parts of his body at every opportunity.

“Damn it! Fight properly!”

Finally, enraged, Wang Jisha stopped chasing Zhang Jian and swung his palm techniques wildly, pouring his inner strength in all directions. A strong heat and flames erupted in waves around him.

Zhang Jian avoided him by flipping backward and landing lightly. He tilted his head and muttered, ignoring Wang Jisha’s glare.

“Is it called Wu Ying Bu (Invisible Step)?”

“What nonsense!”

Hearing this, Wang Jisha roared and charged at Zhang Jian, swinging his hands. The inner strength in his palms exploded with rage. However, Zhang Jian, who had been tilting his head, remained still until the palm technique was right in front of him, then suddenly blurred like a candle being blown out.

Wang Jisha, having released his inner strength into the air, quickly turned to find Zhang Jian, who was now standing a few feet behind him.

“You scoundrel! You don’t intend to fight properly...”

Wang Jisha, about to charge at his back, suddenly stopped, feeling something indescribable. He stiffened and trembled, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Gasp... What... is this...”

He looked down at his body. Red spots appeared on his upper body, all places where Zhang Jian had poked him.

“Gasp!”

Wang Jisha collapsed. His muscles were gradually stiffening. At the same time, the inner strength flowing through his meridians began to scatter uncontrollably. His face turned blank at this unbelievable situation.

Zhang Jian approached him. Wang Jisha, unable to move, could only look at him with his eyes. Zhang Jian, looking into his eyes, wiggled his right hand.

Acupoint striking is a technique that uses one’s inner strength to block the opponent’s meridians, causing abnormalities. It doesn’t work by just pressing one or two points; at least five meridians need to be pressed to have a meaningful effect.

Moreover, if the time between pressing each point is too long, the process needs to be restarted, making it ineffective in actual combat. When both are wielding weapons and aiming for each other’s lives, there’s no time or energy to press dozens of points. The acupoint striking techniques that can incapacitate an opponent with a single point, like striking a vital point or a blood point, didn’t exist in the world Zhang Jian knew.

“What... did you... do... to my... body...”

Wang Jisha managed to speak, his mouth barely opening. His tongue must have stiffened, but his will was impressive.

“Gou Yin Sha Xue (Nine Yin Acupoint Striking)? I thought it was called Jue Mai (Severing Meridians). It doesn’t matter what it’s called.”

Zhang Jian, tapping his hands, took out a cigarette. He had already smoked many, and there were only a few left in his pocket. But Zhang Jian rolled the remaining tobacco without hesitation.

While treating Zhen Xia’s meridians, Zhang Jian learned that when the meridians were twisted or deformed, unusual phenomena occurred in the body. He also learned from the valley natives that when the Zhong Dan point was fully opened, inner strength could scatter and mysterious powers could arise. The world of meridians was more complex than just the generation and flow of inner strength. Combining this knowledge with the acupoint striking techniques he already knew, Zhang Jian achieved a small success.

Zhang Jian, holding the cigarette in his mouth and lighting it, looked at Wang Jisha.

The inner strength that had flowed like flames was now scattered by the twisted meridians Zhang Jian had created. It wasn’t a permanent disability; it was just temporarily deformed by Zhang Jian’s inner strength.

However, like the life force gathering in Zhen Xia’s nine points, Wang Jisha’s inner strength was scattered to the points Zhang Jian had pressed. As a result, the heat that could have burned a person to death was divided into dozens of small warm lumps.

Zhang Jian, puffing out smoke, looked down at Wang Jisha, who was trembling, trying to move his body.

“You said you wouldn’t betray even under torture. Let’s see.”

Zhang Jian, having said this, pressed his index and middle fingers into Wang Jisha’s chest. It was the final point of the acupoint striking technique he had conceived.

Immediately, Wang Jisha’s trembling intensified. Saliva and tears flowed from his slightly open mouth, and his eyes, filled with pain, rolled up. A terrifying cracking sound, similar to when he awakened his martial technique, echoed from his body.

Jin Xia, who had approached, asked.

“...What is that?”

“Fen Jin Cuo Gu (Severing Tendons and Dislocating Bones).”

Zhang Jian, holding the cigarette in his mouth, answered. Jin Xia, startled by the brutal name, looked at Zhang Jian. At that moment, the person smoking the cigarette was not the kind and considerate man she had traveled with for a few days, but a ruthless wanderer of the new continent’s wilderness.

Xue Miaojin, who had been in the inn room, appeared. Inside the inn, the innkeeper and other guests had woken up, and a small commotion was starting.

“What’s happening? How is it going?”

Jin Xia instinctively blocked Xue Miaojin’s path, not between her and Wang Jisha, but between her and Zhang Jian.

“Why are you doing this?”

“...No, Miss. I just thought the demon might be dangerous...”

Xue Miaojin tilted her head at her words. The demon who had been rampaging was now kneeling on the ground, trembling. Jin Xia, unable to admit that she had felt fear from Zhang Jian, remained silent.

At that moment, blood, not saliva or foam, flowed from Wang Jisha’s mouth. Zhang Jian, smoking and looking at him, pressed his acupoints again.

“Gasp, gasp... Gasp... Please... spare me...”

Zhang Jian, watching him struggle to breathe as his body’s stiffness eased, asked.

“Are you ready to talk now?”

Wang Jisha, Wang Wu, looked up at Zhang Jian with dark eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke when he saw Zhang Jian raise his hand again.

“...The palace... is just a palace... the palace of the true ruler of the Central Plains, the First Emperor of Chu, who defeated the madman Qin Shi Huang... those who were oppressed and suppressed in a kingdom gathered there...”

Jin Xia and Xue Miaojin’s expressions hardened at his words. Zhang Jian, glancing at them, asked.

“What about the grand plan?”

“...The grand plan... is prepared by She Gong... a plan for the revival of Chu...”

“What exactly is it?”

Wang Wu shook his head weakly.

“In the grand plan... the snakes are just one piece... only She Gong knows the whole picture...”

“Then you didn’t know why you kidnapped the kid?”

“...I know it was necessary as part of the grand plan... probably... to study the characteristics of Gou Yin Sha Xue...”

Zhang Jian, flicking the ash from his cigarette, smiled bitterly.

“So, despite all the talk about leaving a name, you didn’t know much.”

“...If I can bring down a kingdom with this life... I’m willing to do anything...”

He muttered, lowering his head. Zhang Jian wondered if this was his true will or just an implanted ideology. But he didn’t feel the need to ask further. Finishing his last puff and flicking the cigarette away, Zhang Jian looked at Xue Miaojin.

She frowned and, when Zhang Jian looked at her, blinked and met his gaze.

“Handle it as you see fit.”

“...Eh? Me? How...”

“Those Dark Dragon Corps. Is it okay if I call them?”

Jin Xia’s face turned pale. She looked back and forth between Zhang Jian and Xue Miaojin, unsure what to do. Xue Miaojin, who had been trying to play it off, now had a serious expression.

“...You overheard my conversation with them. How did you hear it? Did you know about the double entendre?”

“I don’t want to get involved with the Yellow Army. Since I’ve captured the demon for you, instead of a medal, let’s just have a quiet journey to Xinshanchuan.”

Xue Miaojin, about to say something, finally closed her mouth and nodded. Zhang Jian, leaving the princess and her bodyguard, walked toward the inn.

The innkeeper and the waiter, holding lanterns, were horrified by the masked corpses scattered in front of the inn. The few guests were peeking out of their windows, and some had come down to see what was happening. Jin Jian, seeing the dead masked men, clasped his hands and chanted a prayer, while Zhen Xia, who had been standing close by, approached Zhang Jian.

Zhang Jian, seeing her, said.

“Go to bed now.”

Xia, looking up at him with wide eyes, didn’t go to bed as instructed but instead tugged at his collar, as if inviting him to come with her. Looking at her eyes, Zhang Jian saw that the princess and her bodyguard were busy dealing with Wang Wu. At that moment, Dark Dragon Corps members and Zhi Feng were rushing past them.

“Alright. I’ll put you to bed.”

After a moment’s thought, Zhang Jian ruffled Xia’s hair and took her hand, entering the inn together.

The moon and stars, which had been shining faintly over the inn and the commotion, seemed to tilt slightly, as if regretting their departure.